Theus was sitting in the Northridge Gym recently presiding over a Matadors practice in the newly-remodeled gym with hope and promise.

There are no additional seats in 1,500-capacity gym, but there is a new floor, video board, freshly-painted logos and murals and “The Matadome” written in large letters on one wall.

It can now translate well on television, too.

He walks over from his converted office that has action shots of him from all the NBA teams he played for, as well as a large frame of his trading cards. He has pictures of himself and his two mentors, Jerry Tarkanian and Rick Pitino.

A Big West recruit should be impressed.

From Theus to athletic director Dr. Brandon Martin to president Dianne F. Harrison, change is in store, and a there’s a vision of winning.

Theus is banking on it with the basketball program. Theus, the former NBA coach, sensed a downtrodden atmosphere when he took over for Bobby Braswell, who was fired after 16 years as CSUN’s coach.

“I knew a lot of things had to change. That third-wheel mentality had to go,” Theus said. “That was my first impression of what was going on around here.”

The 56-year-old Theus us will match up against another first-year coach in USC’s Andy Enfield at the Galen Center on Tuesday.

CSUN doesn’t play UCLA — which also has a new coach in Steve Alford — but Theus says he’ll be talking to the same recruits.

“I’m in the same conversations with the same players USC and UCLA recruit,” Theus said. “Not that we can necessarily get those guys, but we’ll be in those conversations. UCLA and USC can’t get everybody.

“I’m born and raised in L.A. There’s not an AAU coach I don’t know personally. Or I know their uncle or their dad. There’s only a couple of degrees of separation.”

CSUN has much to work out this season, and Theus has three players who are sitting out this year because of transfer rules, but he’s hoping the culture change will be on display.

He’s also hoping a new on-campus arena will be built, but Los Angeles is still waiting for an NFL team, too.

The high school-sized gym is fine for now for Theus, a two-time NBA All-Star who scored more than 19,000 career points. He doesn’t need bells and whistles.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Theus said. “I love teaching the college game. As a player, you want to play in a full building. Players want to be appreciated. I think this has great potential.”

CSUN forward Stephen Maxwell, who played at Taft High School, went to Matadors games as a kid. He’s hoping the culture change will stick. Already, he liked the Matadors Madness midnight practice, which was well-attended. Maxwell put on a show and had a crowd-pleasing behind-the-leg dunk.

“We didn’t have that kind of event last year,” Maxwell said. “We want more fans and a lot of people to know about us. People don’t want to watch you lose. It’s a new era, and we’re going to try to be a winning team.”

CSUN opened the season with an 86-74 win over Hope International.

Theus is thrilled to be back coaching college basketball after a stint as the Los Angeles D-Fenders coach last year. He turned around New Mexico State as its coach, then left for the Sacramento Kings. He was fired after 18 months after the Kings went 44-62.

“If I knew about the (business side of the) NBA at that point, I probably would’ve still taken the job, but I would’ve thought about it a lot harder,” Theus said. “I went there thinking everyone would be on the same page and that just wasn’t so.

“… I’m a better coach for it.”

He did pick up a hobby in Sacramento. He ditched hunting with a rifle for archery. Theus is also an actor, having been in the series “Hang Time” and he was a broadcast analyst, too.

His basketball pedigree is what basketball players admire.

“He’s been at all levels,” said junior guard Stephan Hicks. “He’s played in the NBA, he coached in the NBA. He knows so much about basketball.”

Theus says he has “tremendous street cred” because he grew up in Los Angeles.

Theus lives in Los Angeles and uses his time on the freeway to make calls on his drive to the Valley.

Change starts with Theus, and he’s hoping there’s more where that came from.